The New War Chronicles: Jake
by justmica
Summary: Branches off from the last book. The start of a new story, with a new team, and a familiar enemy. But with a damaged ship on a strange world, what will Jake and the others do as the One ruthlessly hunts them with its Yeerk allies?
1. Chapter One: What you see before you die

_Note:_ I do not claim ownership of the Animorphs. That honor belongs to K.A. Applegate. Not me.

_Author Note: _(A bit overused idea, yes, but no two authors think the same.)

Thought I'd do what just about every hard-core Animorph fan would want or has done:

Continue the legacy my way.

This is Animorphs Reloaded. A new team, a new place, a new time, a new choice.

A new story.

Jake knew he was killing them all when he ordered to ram the Blade ship. He knew, because it was what Rachel would have done.

But things are about to get a bit more complicated…

The team has changed.

And so have the rules.

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

My name is Jake.

And I am about to die.

Maybe that's why I was so calm in what seemed to be the last few moments of my life. Maybe that's why I could stand there and watch as the black body of the Blade ship filled the screen. Because I knew my fate, and I accepted it.

I looked to Tobias and he looked to me. We said nothing, but somehow we both knew what each other wanted to say. Some people say how your life will flash before your eyes in your final moments. But I can tell you now, that what you see right before your death isn't all your life.

Just the parts you regret. Just the parts that meant the most.

I'm sorry Rachel…

Her face flashed across my mind, happy, exhilarated, dangerous and ready to fight. Rachel, my cousin; the Animorph who had been the fire that had kept us going in the worst of times. Then I saw her dead, laying there so peacefully, the fight and beauty never entirely leaving her face.

I'm sorry Tom…

My brother…dead. Dead because of a choice; my choice. Dead because of Rachel. Dead because of me.

I'm sorry Tobias…

The way he had looked at me when he knew what I had done, who's blood was on my hands. But he forgave me. In these last seconds he had at last forgiven me. And so had Rachel. And so had Tom.

But it didn't matter anymore.

I'm so sorry…

Marco…

Ax…

Cassie…oh God…Cassie…

And then Rachel was there beside me. And so was Cassie, and so was Ax, all here with me, with us, in their own little ways. We were united, together again. We were the Animorphs, the original team of six, the defenders of Earth for so many years. We were, we had been. But there was a new team now.

Jeanne stood on the bridge beside Santorelli; Menderash was at the controls. Jeanne for Rachel. Santorelli for Cassie. Menderash for Ax. Then Marco, and Tobias and…me. Half the old team, half the new. Both halves never to be the same again. The team was different in more ways than one. Except for our purpose, our cause. Our name.

We are the Animorphs. The new Animorphs. And our story does not end here.

The _Rachel_ exploded around me as we shot through the outer hull of the Yeerk Blade ship. The heat scarred my face, my hands, my body as I stared defiantly at the One, the monster who had taken my friend and ultimately me.

I smiled.

"Feel _this_."


	2. Chapter Two: Landing

_Author's Note: Sorry, didn't have a lot of time to get the second chapter up. Regular updates just aren't my thing. If this is too boring, then sorry, but it'll get good in the next few chapters. I'll probably revise it later._

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

I had about one second to make a decision. 

The outer layer of the Rachel's Dracon beams on the edge of the boomerang-shaped wings had nearly been ripped away as we shot through the shield of the Blade ship and into the outer hull, sending shock waves throughout our ship and into us. I barely managed to stay on my feet as the others fell forward to the floor around me. Only Menderash managed to cling to the controls and remain upright.

My companions, my team, were screaming around me, crying and praying that we would survive, or sitting where they had fallen blankly, as if barely grasping the gravity of the situation, the meaning of my order, of what was about to happen to them. A computer exploded in my face, the cause of the searing heat that was scarring my body and had almost knocked me unconscious. Thankfully I was not feeling the explosion of the entire ship—so we weren't dead. Yet.

One second. That was all.

"All shield power to left wing. Veer right, now!" I screamed. The One stared at me almost triumphantly, those eyes, Ax's eyes, glinting with some strange understanding that sent shivers up my spine. But I didn't have time to think about it now. I had to save my team.

Thankfully, Menderash seemed to register what I was aiming at. He threw the ship into a ninety-degree turn to the right, shifted all the extra power that wasn't going into the engines into the left wing shield, and we shot alongside the Blade ship, the remains of the sharp ends of the left wing ripping a long, jagged gash into its body. As well as nearly ripping the left wing of our own ship completely off. We'd probably regret that later. Everyone who hadn't grabbed something was thrown against the wall in a heap as easily as toothpicks, me included.

"Oh man, we are so gonna die!" Marco wailed somewhere to my left.

If I could, I would have agreed with him. But considering Santorelli's elbow was shoved into my mouth all that came out was a muffled yell.

We cleared the enemy ship with Rachel's left wing barely connected to the rest of her, and shot off into the space, lopsided and losing power quickly. Menderash scrambled to the controls, his eyes scanning the screens from where the One had disappeared.

"Report!" I managed to gasp as we struggled off of each other and onto our feet to rush to the screen and peer out. My body was racked with pain from the burns, and I could barely move, but by sheer will and the high of the moment, I managed to join the others as we took a look at our surroundings. We were in a planetary system with five planets and one very large sun. The closest planet, a middle-sized bluish-yellow green globe circled by two moons, loomed before us. It was close; I was just worried it wouldn't be close enough.

"Shields at forty percent," Menderash said, trying to keep his voice calm, but I could hear the frantic pitch of panic creeping into his tone. "Power at eighty-two percent. Left wing at thirty-four percent functional. We've lost all control except for very basic, low power maneuvers of our left engines—"

"Can we land on that planet?" I interrupted hurriedly, jabbing a finger at it as it took up our view. I didn't know what we were going to do when we got there or if we could even survive, but at the moment it seemed the only open option.

"Yes, but—"

"Then do it!"

Grimly, Menderash programmed the coordinates and we shot off. I could tell he was annoyed at being interrupted and rushed like this, but now was definitely not the time for courtesy. Just like the old days. Reckless and ruthless decisions, huh? Well, that's what they were going to get.

"Where's the Blade ship?" I asked, scanning the screens. After all of Menderash's training, my brain couldn't seem to make any sense of any of it. That had always been Ax's job. But Ax wasn't here.

"The Blade ship is turning, trying to come after us. It will overtake us in two minutes."

"How long until we land?"

"At our current speed…two and a half minutes. That is, if our power supply and our shields don't fail before then," he said bluntly.

"What happens if they do?" I asked warily, already knowing the answer.

"We burn up entering the atmosphere."

Marco groaned and slapped his head. "Like I said, we are so gonna die."

"We need something to slow them down…" I started to say.

A flash of red light lit up the space around us, disappearing into the blackness.

"They're firing at us!" Santorelli shouted frantically. I had almost forgotten this was his and Jeanne's first battle. Hopefully it wouldn't end up being the last.

"Yeah, like we couldn't see that!" Marco yelled, being the typical Marco.

"What do we do, Captain?" Menderash asked tightly.

The words poured out of my mouth before I had time to think. Jake the fearless leader, the leader of the Animorphs, the famed Yeerk-killer, had taken over. Just like the good old days, I thought. No time to think, only to react.

"Open all waste disposal units," I said, sounding a lot more calm than I felt. Everyone looked at me blankly. "With any luck, that should give us enough time to land as well as give them something to aim at."

"I think I saw this in a movie once," Marco said with a nervous laugh after a second of silence as Menderash carried out my order. "Yeah, I think it was Star Wars or something."

"Everyone morph to something small!" I ordered as I heard the chambers open and eject whatever garbage we had into space. "Something that can survive impact when we land. Me and Menderash will try and land us."

>'Menderash and I' you mean,> Tobias grumbled shakily as he followed the others in morphing. It was the first time he had spoken since I had given the order to ram the Blade ship. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered he always liked English class. I spared a glance at him; most of his feathers had been burned away, but his raw skin underneath was already healing as he shrunk.

That made me pause for a moment to glance at the others. Everyone else possessed similar burns. Jeanne hadn't said anything at all because she couldn't. Her entire face was blackened with scarred flesh and she was crying as she forced herself to morph. Marco's entire left side was thoroughly burned, and Santorelli looked like he had half a mask on. Menderash's arms were singed considerably. I didn't dare think about how I looked; I felt worse enough.

"Hey, are you going to be okay?" I asked the former Andalite worriedly as I leaned against the computer, fighting against the pain that threatened to render me senseless. He was the only one who couldn't morph out of his wounds. Not for the first time I wondered if he was regretting his choice of becoming a voluntary nothlit.

"Yes," he said tensely.

"What's the position of the Blade ship?"

He checked the screens. "We just might have enough time to reach the atmosphere. If our engines hold out, we should manage to get ahead of them. We're smaller, so hopefully we'll be able to go faster. Less mass, less friction to deal with."

"Great."

It wasn't long before I felt the ship give a lurch as we entered the alien planet's atmosphere. I checked to make sure everyone was in some kind of insect morph before finding a place to strap myself in, putting my complete trust in Andalite piloting.

"You should morph, too, Jake," Menderash said calmly from the controls.

I smiled weakly at him, fighting against the pain that threatened to overwhelm me. If I morphed, the pain would be gone… "On Earth, we find it honorable for the captain to go down with the ship."

He nodded. "Yes. That is very honorable indeed. It sounds like something an Andalite would do."

The ship gave another defined lurch.

"We are entering the atmosphere."

>Hey, Jake, mind telling us what's going on?> Marco called from wherever he was.

I nodded to Menderash. "You tell them. Just keep talking in thought speak to everyone unless you have something to tell me privately."

>We are entering the planet's atmosphere,> he said simply.

>Ah. So…are we dead yet?>

> You are so immature,> Jeanne mumbled.

>Ouch.>

>Well, she's right.> Tobias said.

>Yeah, I know. No need to rub it in.>

The ship started to vibrate and lurch under me, causing the pain to shoot through me like fire. I was almost ready to scream or give into the urge to morph, anything to escape the pain. But I had to see this out, it was my duty, my job. Besides, I'd been through worse.

"How's she holding up?" I asked as I was thrown from side to side. I couldn't see anything out of the screen save for a very blurry picture of some foreign jungle coming closer very fast.

>Shields are twenty-three percent functional. Power is at fifty-two percent. Left wing is completely out of my control—unsure if it's still attached to the ship. In precisely forty-two seconds she will break up if we do not clear the upper atmosphere—>

>That's pretty bad, right?> Jeanne asked.

>Yeah, I'd certainly say so,> Tobias mumbled.

"Where's the Blade ship?"

>The Blade ship is several ship lengths behind us. Their current speed is approximately—>

>Just tell us, are they going to catch us or not?> Marco shouted irritably.

Menderash seemed a bit relieved as he glanced over the screens. >At our current speed, no. We should have about twenty seconds to find a suitable hidden landing before they can come after us.>

>Great. Twenty seconds, huh? Yeah, we are so, totally gonna die.>

>Shut up,> Tobias snapped. > This is not what we need right now!>

>Sorry.>

The bumpy ride lasted a few seconds longer. I was gripping the edges of my seat so hard that I couldn't feel my arms anymore; not that I could before after all the burns. At last we tore out of the rough entry and shot towards a vast jungle below. All I could see was a mass of dark purple and yellow leaves fill the screen. Any moment we were going to hit…

"All power to the engines!" I yelled. "Land us somewhere safe!"

For a moment Menderash struggled briskly with the controls. Then he stopped and turned to me. Somehow, I knew what he was about to say. Somehow, I just knew this was going to happen.

>We've lost all power. I have no control over the ship,> he said, hatefully calm.

>Okay, now I agree with Marco. We are so gonna die!>

The Rachel hurtled through the air towards the rapidly approaching ground. There was no time this time to make a decision. No one second to change our fate. The last thing I remembered was the sound of tearing metal as we crashed through the dense trees and into the alien forest. The last thing I remembered was Rachel's face, risen from somewhere in my mind, laughing at the sheer exhilaration of the ride. For a moment, I almost laughed with her. She was right there, so real, so perfect…

Then I gave myself over to the pain and fell deep into my mind.


	3. Chapter Three: Dreams

_Author's note:Okay, I finally finished this chapter. Not as good as I would have liked, but once I get farther along in this story I'll go back and edit some things._

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

It was dinner and we were sitting in our small dining room, wolfing down pizza. Tom sat across from me like any old time, and my parents sat to the side, talking about some boring story that happened at my dad's work. We laughed. We talked. We ate pizza while my mom attacked a salad. At that moment, the war with the Yeerks seemed so far off. In fact, it didn't seem to exist at all save for some silly TV series. We were just a family. A nice, normal family having a sit-down dinner. We were a family, yes. But we were my family.

I looked up from my pizza at Tom to say something. He'd insulted me again, in that brotherly way; something about how I couldn't sink a basketball in the Grand Canyon if I was standing right on the rim of it. It was a typical conversation that we had had many times before, but it was special to me. For now he was my brother. For now, I could try and forget the evil slug in his brain.

"You know Tom—" I started to say. Then I stopped. Something was wrong. He was changing, morphing into some creature right before my eyes. I couldn't move. I was frozen. No, it couldn't be…not now…

It was a snake. The same body he had died in at Rachel's hands. But it had Tom's eyes. Not the eyes of the Yeerk, but of my brother. My real brother. Tom. The one I had ordered my cousin to kill.

("You couldn't save me, Jake,") the snake said in Tom's voice. ("It was the only way out.")

I tried to say something, but nothing would come; I was the tiger, racing through a strange jungle. Yet it was my territory, my home. The power and strength flowed through my body, making me stronger, faster. The two moons hung above in the sky, shining on the brilliant purple and yellow leaves around me. It was so peaceful here, so wonderful. I never wanted to leave. All I wanted was to lose myself in the tiger's mind, in that moment of freedom and thrill.

A large grizzly bear loped up beside me and I stopped. It stopped. We looked at each other, and I knew. I could see Rachel's eyes staring down at me, filled with the fierceness and the courage of her everlasting soul.

("You have to keep fighting, Jake,") the bear said. ("You can't give up like this. Don't worry about me. It was the only way out.")

The jungle scene fell away and I was thrown into the midst of a battle on golden fields I had never seen before in my life. Strange creatures fought alongside me, their screams and cries mingling with the tearing sounds of laser fire and unfamiliar ships.

My claws lashed out and I sprinted through the enemy ranks, leaving a trail of destruction in my wake. This body was new, different, but so similar to the confidence and the power of the tiger. I wanted to run into the jungle and escape from the close quarters of bodies around me. Maybe later I would. After I completed the mission.

He stood before me, right in the range of my vicious claws. I lashed out at his guards and they fell like twigs. I was the power, the king of the jungle. This time, he would not escape.

I lunged at him, claws extended, fangs bared. This time, he would pay for all the pain he had caused…

We collided and fell in a heap, fighting and clawing and biting until both of us were nearly dead. The battle around us seemed to disappear. It was just us, fighting to the death.

Then I had him. He was mine. With a roar of triumph I raised my extended claws for the final blow. At last…this time…

Ax's almost-shaped eyes stared up at me from the misshapen face. I hesitated. How could I kill my friend?

(You must do it, Prince Jake,) he said, and for that one moment I knew he was Ax, not the monster that had taken him. (You cannot save everyone. Do it. It is the only way out.)

My paw fell…

I woke up.

To find myself hanging in a tree, at least fifty feet above the strange, alien ground.

It's then that I realized I hated heights.

"Ahhhhhh!"

"Hey, I think Jake woke up," Marco's voice said helpfully to my left.

"Yeah, I noticed," Santorelli mumbled.

It was day. Or at least I thought it was. The dim light filtering in through the thick canopy made it difficult to decide. But it seemed like day. It was certainly humid enough. It reminded me of our brief episode in the rainforest so long ago. Not a really pleasant memory to think about.

I twisted my body around and managed to catch Marco hanging a few feet behind me. Santorelli was to his left, Jeanne was behind him, unconscious. All of them were in their human forms. I couldn't see Tobias or Menderash. We were hanging from the branches of a very tall, very wide, and very purple tree, wrapped in thin purple vines that kept us suspended in the air, dangling helplessly for any predator to come and pick us off. Not that that was a very comforting thought.

There were other vines around us, some hanging loosely and some with bundles at the end of them, as if they were wrapped around something. I frowned and squinted at them. But the headache that erupted from my efforts made me give up.

Painfully, I tried to bring my hands up to my burning face, but found them tightly bound to my side. I tried to kick my legs, but they were bound as well. All I did was manage to make myself sway back and forth a bit and make my body scream with pain. I was still obviously burned from the crash. Which wasn't a surprise since you can't morph when you're unconscious. Usually.

"Where are we?" I asked when I had confirmed that the only thing I could move freely was my head. When I spoke, my voice was harsh and grating, high-pitched from the pain that burnt my body.

"We're stranded on an alien planet after making a suicide plunge through the atmosphere when you gave the order to crash into the Blade Ship that's gotta be, what_, ten times _our size, lacking two _nothlits_ and one outlawed and very damaged Yeerk spaceship, billions of miles away from my very comfortable home on Earth where everyone is probably wondering where we've gone, because being chased by a mob of renegade Yeerks and a mind-reading freak with Ax-man's body and hanging around in great purple trees is just what we do for a living," Marco said a little too brightly. "So in other words, we're exactly where you'd think we should be: trapped in an overgrown eggplant with no way down except to possibly get eaten by whatever lives here."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh, '" Marco continued on rapidly, his voice taking on a slight edge of panic. "We're food for the vultures or whatever else resembles a vulture on this stupid planet, Tobias and Menderash are probably both dead with whatever remains of our spaceship, and it's all because someone just happened to hear Ax-man call your name right before he got possessed by that face-changing maniac and you had to be the hero and go rushing out after him and certain death, dragging us along for the ride! So if 'oh' is all you can say, Jake, then I have to say, I'm very disappointed."

I tried to ignore the hint of accusatory tone in his words as I focused on what we had to do to get out of here. It bothered me that I didn't know where Tobias and Menderash were, and that the ship wasn't anywhere to be seen. If we had crashed, shouldn't there be some wreckage somewhere in view? And where was the Blade ship? Shouldn't it have caught up to us by now?

_One thing at a time, Jake. First figure out how to get down from here._

"We have to get down from here," I muttered determinedly, forcing the panic at being stranded high above the ground.

"Yeah, y'think!" Marco practically yelled, his tone now very definitely panicked. "Any minute now and that stupid Blade ship will be coming along to use us as target practice!"

"Santorelli," I called over my shoulder. I could barely see him lift his head heavily in response. He was exhausted; like I felt and like I knew Marco was. It was a strange feeling, almost too strange, like all the energy was being drawn out of my body…I shook it out of my head. "Try and wake up Jeanne. It'd be nice to know if everyone's okay."

_And to make sure I didn't get anyone else killed, _a part of me thought bitterly.

"So now what's the plan, oh great and fearless leader?" Marco continued. The panic in his voice had faded a bit, but it was still there in his tired voice, just as surely as my own panic was in the back of my mind.

"Now," I said, trying to think and finding it difficult, "we morph into something small to slip out of these vines and try and find Tobias and Menderash."

"Already tried, Jake-man," Marco said, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, I'm not that stupid. I tried fly, flea, gorilla, wolf, bird…you name it I became it. The vines are just a little too tough to bite through, and they just tighten around you no matter what form you get into." He paused. "I wish my clothing would do that. You know, even the expensive brands don't even come _close_ to doing that."

I frowned but tried not to show my irritation at my best friend's attitude. "Fine. But we morph anyway."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, I need to morph out of my wounds," I said with forced patience. "And unless you want to start screaming for help and let every creature in this jungle know we're here, we can use thought speak to try and get a hold of Tobias or Menderash."

"Okay now it's my turn: oh."

I sighed and focused my mind on the peregrine falcon DNA inside of me. My reasoning was that if I did manage to work my way free from the vines, I would at least have a way to get to the ground without taking a very nasty detour. Then I paused. The dream was slowly bubbling up into my mind. Tiger. Yes, that was the morph for here amongst the purple and the yellow. It just felt…right.

With a glance over at Marco who was tiredly morphing his gorilla and Santorelli who was morphing—what was that, a cheetah?—while trying to wake up Jeanne, I pictured the tiger in my mind and felt the changes begin. I was too tired to notice what was happening to my body. Though I did feel what was left of my clothing rip to shreds. Morphing had become a familiar dance despite its randomness. It was a routine that I could do without second thought. In a few minutes I was a black and orange striped cat on the wrong planet in a tree. Though the exhaustion remained, the pain at least was gone, which left me to think on more important things.

But I discovered that Marco was right about the vines. Though I had grown considerably compared to my human form, the vines had merely widened to accommodate me. Nothing had changed. Except the fact that I was a tiger.

(Oh, this isn't a strange sight,) Marco commented cheerfully. He sounded less tired. Which made me realize that I felt less tired. Something was tugging at my mind, something I should have noticed. It was an annoyingly familiar feeling; I had felt it many times during the countless missions. It told me that I was forgetting something. No, that I was overlooking something that was very important. Yes, that was it. There was something that I should notice that I hadn't.

(Does anyone else feel less tired after morphing?) I asked hesitantly.

Marco paused. (Come to think of it, yeah.)

(Santorelli?)

(Me, too.)

(It's probably just nothing. You know, we've probably just gotten so use to being human that when we morph some big, butt-kicking animals we feel stronger. No big deal.)

(Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right,) I said. But I was still uneasy.

(So. Now that we're a tiger, a gorilla, and a cheetah hanging out in a tree, what's next? I don't know if the circus has an opening for animal acrobats.)

I took a moment to think about it, all the while noticing that my tiger body was slowly starting to loose its energy. It was getting difficult to focus. But the feeling of uneasiness persisted stronger. I shook it out of my head. (Santorelli? Keep at Jeanne. We need her awake. Marco? You and I are going to try to reach Tobias or Menderash. We need to find out where they are and if they're okay.(

There was a moment of silence. (What, that's it? That's the extent of the brilliant plan, oh great and mighty leader?)

(Why? You got something better?)

(We could morph back to human.)

(Whatever for?)

(It's easier to cry and scream and complain about how unfair life is when you're in your own body.)

Jeanne woke up a short while later to the constant badgering of Santorelli. During that time Marco and I had figured out a way to make our thought speak louder and more effective by synchronizing our voices and projecting them as loud as we could. We had made it almost a game to see who could overpower the other.

(TOBIAS! MENDERASH!) we yelled together.

(Please report to the largest purple eggplant where your friends are being held captive to await certain death at the beaks of the alien equivalent to vultures or the Dracon beams of the Blade Ship. Thank you for shopping at Alien-mart and have a nice day!)

That last part was Marco, of course. I was getting too tired to think up stupid remarks like that.

"Wha…where are we?" a groggy Jeanne said as she painfully regained consciousness. "And why am I so…weak?"

I was too tired to respond and too determined to reach Tobias and Menderash to explain. (Santorelli? Fill her in. Marco? Let's keep at it. On the count of three, okay? One, two…)

I never managed to get to three.

(What the…what is _that_?)

It was a bird. Or at least that's what it looked like: a strange cross between a large, purple seagull and a black snake that had to be at least as big as a bald eagle back at home. Almost beautiful in its own, bizarre way. Especially in the slithering way it seemed to move through the branches and vines of the trees. Large wings supported the snake-like body. A long, cruel snout with razor-sharp teeth protruded from its reptilian face, not unlike a crocodile. It could easily rip off my exposed head with those gaping jaws. I wouldn't even be able to defend myself.

Which wouldn't have been that bad if it was flying away from us. If it didn't have its sharp, piercing gaze focused on us as we dangled helplessly. The problem was, it did. And it was flying right towards us.

And you know what my delusional mind thought was the worse part of it was? No one was ever going to believe this. I didn't have a camera.


End file.
